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Akris, Your Mantis: Burning, Rowing

Posted in Reviews on November 29th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

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It feels like longer than three years since bass-driven Virginia sludge outfit Akris offered up their self-titled debut (review here), but part of that may be due to the rather significant changes the band has undergone in that stretch. Founded as a two-piece in the wake of bassist/vocalist Helena Goldberg‘s prior outfit, AquilaAkris‘ second full-length, Your Mantis (on DGRecords), marks an entirely new beginning for the group, which in 2015 announced that joining Goldberg would be guitarist/vocalist Paul Cogle (NagatoBlack Blizzard) and drummer Tim Otis (Admiral Browning), establishing them as a trio for the first time. That’s no minor shift, adding guitar and second vocals for the first time, let alone a drummer with the fervor and intense personality and play that Otis brings, and the six-track/38-minute Your Mantis meets the change head-on with ambition, beginning a storyline reportedly intended to carry across a multi-album arc into the next Akris release, whatever form that may take when they get there.

This lineup made its opening statement with last year’s Fall EP (review here), so for those who heard that or the first record, perhaps Your Mantis won’t be so much a superficial sidestep from its predecessor — it’s still very much Goldberg at the core of group, and their blend of aggressive noise rock and weighted sludge tonality is consistent — but one can hear progression both in terms of the concepts with which Akris are working, and in the still-engagingly-raw sound they bring to bear, the track “Brown” offering a direct comparison point as it’s shared between both albums.

Worth noting that the version of “Brown” on Your Mantis is over a minute shorter than the one on Akris. The long-player itself follows suit. Recorded and mixed at Oubliette Studios with a mastering job by Noel Mueller of Grimoire Records and topped with Sean “Skillit” McEleny cover art, Your Mantis is over 20 minutes shorter than the preceding self-titled, and when it comes to a sound that plays back and forth between hypnotic melodicism and intense punkish fervor in the manner theirs does, building quickly into bursts of aggro thrust with a measure’s notice as Goldberg swaps out clean-singing for vicious screams, that brevity lends efficiency. Add to that a song like the well-placed “Burn with Me,” third of the six cuts, which finds Goldberg and Cogle working in duet-style vocals on a linear movement that’s clear and crisp in its execution, and Akris bring a sense of accomplishment and realization to Your Mantis that, while it may only be part of the story in terms of lyrical narrative, has plenty to say about how far they’ve come in the last three years.

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Since her days in Aquila, brashness has always been a feature of Goldberg‘s work, and that’s no different as opener “Profit” shifts from its early swaying and thudding into searing sludge and noise, setting up one of the essential trades the album will continue to make if not telling the full story in terms of atmosphere, which begins to flesh out with the fuzzier, more patient and winding “Sturgeon.” Melodically sung for the duration, it nonetheless hits into a slow-rolling finish before its five minutes are up, but even more, it provides a transition point between the scorch of “Profit” and “Burn with Me,” which brings Cogle forward vocally for the first time. It’s a quieter pulse at first, kept somewhat tense through percussion à la “Planet Caravan,” but that doesn’t last, and just past the halfway point heavier guitar kicks in and drives the song into its apex, leaving enough room on the other side to finish quiet and bring a sense of symmetry to what one presumes would be the end of side A.

Though it’s shorter as already noted, “Brown” feels more spacious in its early meanderings, but still locks into a blasting drive in its second half. That move between where-am-I-who-am-I and oh-yeah-I’m-here-to-rip-your-throat-out is in some ways the key to making Your Mantis work as it does, but Akris aren’t afraid to screw with the formula either, as the biting “Row” demonstrates with a near-blackened blend of rumble and screams at its start, giving way to the single angriest push of the record, an insistent noisy post-grunge chug still consistent atmospherically with echo on Goldberg‘s vocals, which relent as the three-piece move into the brief chorus only to trade back again as the next verse takes hold. It’s not chaos exactly — there’s a plan at work on a structural level — but it sure sounds like it. “Row,” as the penultimate cut before the 10-minute finale “Visitor,” is the most brutal piece on Your Mantis, and Otis, who so frequently shines as a drummer in moments of fury, makes a highlight of the frustrated crashes that accompany its late payoff, but it is ultimately the closer tasked to sum up the record as a whole.

Not as easy a job as it might initially seem. Across its first five tracks, Your Mantis has careened, lurched, thrust, wandered, pivoted and turned, remaining cohesive and even flowing front to back in a manner born of some of the same impulses as the debut but grown outward from them on nearly every level of theme and performance — and with a new lineup. “Visitor” is wise to take its time in covering all this ground, and whether or not it was written with the intent of closing, it does the job well, representing the dynamic in sound and style that Akris have come to proffer on what might itself feel like a first outing were it not so clearly benefiting from the experience of having made the self-titled before it. Clear-headed? Certainly as far as its purposes go. Your Mantis may well be the beginning of something of larger scope for Akris, but they still hold onto that basic rawness beneath, and their approach is all the richer for it.

Akris, Your Mantis (2016)

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Akris Premiere “Brown” Video; Your Mantis Due Sept. 23

Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 5th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

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As I understand it, the new Akris video is the beginning point for a storyline that will continue into their next clip and maybe even their next release, but from the artfully shot slow-motion closeups, the ’90s-style walking toward the camera while the camera backs up at pace — see also Mantar‘s recent “Cross the Cross” video (posted here) — and the focus on performance throughout, there’s plenty in “Brown” to represent what the Virginian trio are all about. They’ll issue the band’s second full-length, Your Mantis (with fabulous Skillit artwork), Sept. 23 on DGRecords, marking the long-play debut of Akris‘ current lineup of bassist/vocalist/founder Helena Goldberg, guitarist/vocalist Paul Cogle (also Black Blizzard) and drummer Tim Otis (also Admiral Browning) after the release of last year’s Fall EP (review here).

akris your mantisAnd for a standalone representation of what this version of Akris — they started as a duo and released their self-titled debut (review here) in 2013 — are all about, there’s little more one could ask of “Brown” than what the song delivers. Goldberg is front and center and her vocals melodic in a post-grunge tradition, always with a kind of riot grrl undercurrent, but the additional fuzz that Cogle‘s guitar brings to the mix lets her explore more fleshed out basslines, and of course Otis is a master of on-the-beat drumming, his tight style perfectly suited to Akris‘ noise rock tendencies, which come out more later in the track as Goldberg moves into and out of more vicious screams and leads the three-piece through d-beat rush that’s a surprise after the initial groove they lock in, but not at all out of place.

DGRecords has Your Mantis available for preorder now (linked below). The release show is set for Sept. 23 at Guido’s Speakeasy in Frederick, Maryland, and under the “Brown” video, you’ll find some comment from Goldberg about how the song and video tie together and where they might be headed from here.

Please enjoy:

Akris, “Brown” official video

Helena Goldberg on “Brown”:

This video for “Brown” is a preface to our next album and video (projected release 2017/2018). This multiple album-spanning storyline is based on a dream that I had in 2011, in which three brown-robed travelers journey in a timeless and seemingly empty world, united by a common purpose that will not be revealed until the end of our next album and video. Seen through the “eyes” of an unknown entity, the video offers an intimate glimpse into the projected origins of this group of travelers (the three members of Akris). The viewer finds the travelers coming to an old warehouse, discovering their robes and instruments, then packing them up and beginning our journey that will be continued next with the Sleeping Village album.

The Akris sophomore full-length, “Your Mantis” will be the first album released by DGRecords with the new lineup (Paul Cogle on guitar, Tim Otis on drums). The album has songs that listeners may recognize from past albums (“Brown,” “Profit,” “Row of Lights”), as well as brand new tracks such as “Visitor,” “Burn with Me,” and “Sturgeon.” The visual imagery and storyline that you will see in the video for “Brown” seems to have been as much a part of the song as the words and music, and constantly in my mind over the years. I can’t say enough good things about Three Goats Moving Pictures. Their commitment and passion was completely inspiring, and it has been extremely moving to me that they were so dedicated to creating visually these images I’ve had in my head for so long. They were incredibly professional (worked nonstop for about 10-12 hours the day of the shoot, one guy literally just grabbing a handful of bread and peanut butter at one point and continuing working, that was his “break”!). It’s also been amazing how supportive DGRecords has been in helping us to create this video. Your Mantis drops September 23rd, and we will be touring out to the Southwest Terror Fest in October in support of the release!

Akris on tour:
Fri 09/23 Frederick MD – Guidos- CD release show
Fri 10/14 Asheville NC – Odditorium
Sat 10/15 Nashville TN – Springwater
Sun 10/16 Little Rock – TBA
Mon 10/17 Austin, TX – The Lost Well – w/ Order of the Owl and Destroyer of Light
Wed 10/19 Rogue bar Scottsdale AZ w/ order of the owl
Thurs 10/20 Tucson AZ – Southwest Terror Fest- Gary’s place
Sat 10/22 TBA
Mon 10/24 TBA
Tues 10/25 Hattiesburg – The Tavern
Wed 10/26 Birmingham – the Fireside

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Your Mantis preorder from DGRecords

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